Seems to be that a number of important writers have passed away recently- Doris Lessing, Sue Townsend & now Gabriel Garcia Marquez. All three were very different but all three leave a legacy of works that reflect a distinct place and culture (rural South Africa, suburban Britain and mythic South America respectively).
Makes me wonder what the legacy of the ebook generation will be. Exact ownership of texts is much more fluid (both copies and originals) and critical judgements themselves will appear in electronic rather than paper form.I can imagine reputations dissolving almost overnight and other writers gradually being forgotten only to be discovered in a random search years later. As Philip Larkin says in An Arundel Tomb, 'What will survive of us, is love.'